Party Wall Award for work to shared chimney

Specific_Train

Hi there, I'm looking for some advice, I guess, as I'm not really sure how to proceed with this. 

We live in Wales - if this makes a difference?

We are in a long terrace, with party walls either side - as stated in the deeds. Our neighbours 'up the hill' (not that that really matters) have trouble with water ingress in their loft. They mentioned this to us 20 years ago when we purchased the property, and my partner went up onto the roof, and capped off all the flues with lead, as none were being used - at this point the neighbours told it that was our responsibility to sort, and so we did.

8 years ago, they telephoned to say they were having water ingress, and we needed 'to sort it out'. At this point my partner told them it was a party wall, and we needed to do this jointly. He pointed out that as the chimney sits on their roof, he couldn't just do it. It would need scaffolding on their house, etc.

We then received a letter from a party wall surveyor (a friend of theirs) to say that the chimney needed rebuilding and we were liable for the costs. We agreed for him to come and survey our property, but disputed the works proposed. My partner met with him, and we agreed to review the cappings on the chimneys to check that all was still in place. He went up and replaced capping on one of the flues, and all was quiet again.

In February this year, we received another notice from the party wall surveyor, with a schedule of works including taking down and rebuilding the stack, rendering etc etc. due to water ingress in their property. In 20 years, they have never attempted any maintenance to the chimney.

This time we appointed a party wall surveyor of our own as we didn't trust their surveyor to act impartially. They came out and did the survey in April, and we heard nothing further until last week.

Our surveyor got in touch to say they were finalising the award, 4 quotes were received for the work, the costs were based on the cheapest quote, and this would be included within the award.

The award docs arrived on Monday. It says we are liable for 70% of the costs, as we have 6 (unused) flues in the chimney, while the neighbours have only 1. OK. That makes sense. The schedule of works still includes many items we believe are unnecessary - such as taking down and rebuilding the stack - the water ingress is through the cracked render, and poor flashings on their roof!

There are no quotations included, so we have no idea of what this is likely to cost. I contacted the surveyor who said this is due to not knowing who will/when the work will be done. Surely the award should include the costings?

Are we seriously liable for 70% of the costs of works the neighbour wants to do, with whatever builder they choose to do the works? Having contacted the surveyor again he has told me the quotes ranged from £7k to £25k.........

sammyjammy

If none of the flues are active why would they rebuild the chimney?  I recently had a chimney removed down to roof level as it was unsafe, not used, v short chimney recapped etc.

Specific_Train

We're in a conservation area, so has to be rebuilt. However, since none of the flues are in use, we suggested it could just be capped. Surveyor says a lead tray has to be added in case the flues are wanted in the future!